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Lobbyist Lands 'Mickey Mouse Job'
by Sarah Lai Stirland
The Walt Disney Company has hired XM Satellite Radio lobbyist and telecommunications policy veteran Bill Bailey.
Bailey worked at XM as its senior vice president of regulatory and government affairs for just over a year before joining Disney. Before that, he worked for then-Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz. He also has worked at the FCC and Commerce Department.
Bailey succeeds Disney's vice president of government affairs, Mitch Rose, who left in February to found his own lobbying shop.
Bailey was not available for comment by press time, but Disney's executive vice president of government relations, Preston Padden, said the idea of hiring Bailey was first presented to him at Rose's going-away party on Capitol Hill. Padden recalls his initial response, which was: "Get out!" His second response was to contact Bailey immediately.
"On the way home from the party while sitting at a red light, I e-mailed him on my BlackBerry, and the message was: 'Would you be interested in a Mickey Mouse job?'" Padden said. "When I woke up the next morning, I had a one-word answer, and it was: 'Yes.'"
"He's a fantastic human being," Padden said. "From his service on the [Senate Commerce Committee] for Senator McCain, he knows all the players and all the issues, and everybody respects him and everybody loves him."
From Driving Cars To Policy
The lobbying shop Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti has hired David Thomas, a former chief of staff to Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. Thomas is a 16-year veteran of Capitol Hill, having started his career as a driver for former Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, after graduating from Vanderbilt University.
Thomas has worked at the firm for two weeks and expects to focus on a wide array of technology issues. Lofgren's office focuses heavily on tech issues because she represents Silicon Valley.
Firm co-founder David Castagnetti first approached Thomas about joining the firm in early spring, Thomas said. "He didn't need to ask twice. He's a guy I really respect, and really enjoy working with in the past, so I'm really excited to be working with him," said Thomas, who worked with Castagnetti during the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. During that time, Castagnetti was Kerry's director of congressional operations.
Thomas was Lofgren's chief of staff for four years. Before that, he was director of congressional relations for the FTC under former Chairman Robert Pitofsky as the Internet bubble burst and Time Warner merged with America Online. Thomas also worked for former Vice President Al Gore for seven years in his legislative affairs office.
Stacy Leavandosky, the California Democratic congressional delegation's executive director, succeeds Thomas as chief of staff in Lofgren's office. Lofgren chairs the 33-member delegation. Ricky Le, a lawyer working for Lofgren in her San Jose office, will move to the capital to assume Leavandosky's old job.
An Appeal To Fire Sen. Hatch
The Information Policy Action Committee, or IPac for short, last week launched its online electoral campaign against members of Congress that it deems to have endorsed skewed and unbalanced intellectual property policies.
The first target in the group's sights is Sen. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee. Hatch, a songwriter and singer, has been a strong advocate over the years for the entertainment industry.
IPac has launched a site to enable online donations to Hatch challenger Pete Ashdown, a Democrat and a small-businessman who runs Xmission, his own Internet service company in Salt Lake City. The group admits the campaign is a long shot but adds, "Orrin Hatch is worth the effort."
The site's launch already has generated attention from some high-profile Web logs, including Boing Boing, MyDD and Wonkette.
In other Capitol Hill news, Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, announced multiple staff promotions last week.
Communications Director Melanie Alvord is now assistant staff director for administration and communications; Staff Assistant Megan Beechener has become executive assistant; Staff Assistant Mark Delich has been promoted to professional staff member; Staff Assistant Rebecca Hooks has been promoted to nominations clerk; Committee Press Secretary Aaron Saunders is now communications director; and Staff Assistant Steve Wachowski is a research assistant for four subcommittees that focus on disasters, fisheries, ocean policy and climate change.
Law Firm Expands Litigation Practice
Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis, which specializes in white-collar criminal and commercial law, appeals cases, and technology and communications law, has hired a trio of new litigators.
Justin Dillon joins as an associate after working as a trial attorney in the honors program at the civil rights division in the Justice Department. Before that, he clerked for Judge David Ebel at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Ebel is not just another high-achieving, white-collar drone. He also has worked as a television producer in Los Angeles.
Steven Fredley joins the firm as an associate from the law firm of Jones Day, where he worked on class-action lawsuits and other civil litigation. Before Jones Day, Fredley clerked for Judge Frank Bullock, a federal district judge in North Carolina.
Charles Kimmett will be "of counsel" at Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis. He joins the firm from the law firm of Williams & Connolly, where he worked on both criminal and civil lawsuits, including First Amendment and media cases. Kimmett clerked for Judge Stewart Pollock of the New Jersey Supreme Court before he worked for Williams & Connolly.
In other news, Sandra Jeskie, a partner at the law firm of Duane Morris in Philadelphia, has been named assistant secretary to the executive committee of the International Technology Law Association. The position puts Jeskie on track to become the association's president in 2010. The association is a trade group of technology lawyers and updates members on developments in the field through quarterly newsletters, conferences and roundtable discussions.
Software Group Taps New Board Members
The Software and Information Industry Association last week announced the election of 13 new members of its content division's board. The terms last for two years.
The board decides the division's priorities for the year, and organizes projects and activities. The new members are:
-- Jack Abuhoff, president and CEO of Innodata Isogen;
-- David Brill, counsel at Thomson Financial;
-- Stephen Casbeer, senior director of product technology at Reed Elsevier;
-- Karen Christensen, co-founder and CEO of the Berkshire Publishing Group;
-- Daniel Duncan, director of government affairs at The McGraw-Hill Companies;
-- Hal Espo, president of Contextual Connections;
-- Lee Greenhouse, president of Greenhouse Associates;
-- Kathleen Sexton, chief marketing officer at HighBeam Research;
-- Darrell Gunter, senior vice president of sales and marketing North America for Elsevier;
-- Rob Kirchstein, senior director of marketing and business information, news and public records for Thomson West;
-- Chuck Richard, vice president and lead analyst at Outsell;
-- Steven Sieck, managing partner of U.S. operations for Electronic Publishing Services; and
-- Rachel Spasser, vice president of business development at KnowledgeStorm.
Quote Of The Week
"The first words out of his mouth were, 'So you're a guy?'"
-- Wonkette Editor David Lat, speaking of his "coming out" to New Yorker writer Jeffrey Toobin. Lat previously wrote under a female pseudonym for the Web log Underneath Their Robes.
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